Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.

SLU Streetcar: Blueprint or Boondoggle?

Is it the beginning of something bigger and better for Seattle or is it just another expensive toy for Paul Allen? From its inception, the SLU streetcar has created controversy.

I think we can all agree that Seattle has a transportation problem and some of us, especially urban dwellers, believe that our problem is best solved by coaxing people out of their cars and onto bikes, buses, light rail, streetcars and their own two feet. To that end, Seattle is lucky to have had Mayor Greg Nickels at the helm for the last eight years. He is a champion of public transportation and isn’t afraid to stick his neck out to try something risky for the benefit of the city. Mayor Nickels brought us light rail to the airport, bus rapid transit on Aurora, the water taxi to downtown, $3.5 million dollars worth of new sidewalks and of course the SLU streetcar, which appeared, in all its cherry-red glory, on the front page of Thursday’s Seattle Times .

According to the Seattle Times article, the city spent $4.3 million dollars on streetcar cost overruns. Read a little more closely and you will learn that most of that money came from the utilities budget and was used to update SLU’s sewage and electrical system. Given that the number of employees working in SLU is expected to double by 2012, I’m relieved to hear that the city went ahead with the improvements. I’m also irritated that the Seattle Times chose to highlight these so-called cost overruns in lieu of celebrating the next streetcar line, which will deliver passengers to points between the International District/Chinatown and Capitol Hill light rail stations.

The Times missed the real story, one that goes something like this: Vibrant new urban neighborhood provides vision and inspiration for Seattle’s transportation solution. Congratulations, SLU. What will we think of next?

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.